The Board found that the appellant was entitled to DIC benefits from August 1, 1996, but denied her request for an earlier effective date.
The deciding factor: VA did not have a duty to forward a formal application for DIC benefits as the burial benefits application could not be construed as such due to lack of a specific box indicating service connection. The appellant filed a formal claim in July 1996, which was considered after the one-year deadline.
- Claimed conditions
- Hepatic Encephalopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2006
- Citation
- 0637798
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,480 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0637798.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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- Granted
The Board has determined that the veteran's April 2002 communication is a timely NOD to the April 1998 decision denying her claim for reimbursement of unauthorized medical expenses incurred from November 25, 1997 to December 1, 1997. The case is now remanded for the NAO to provide the veteran with a Statement of the Case as to this issue.
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